She was a pretty, fit and healthy 26-year-old who appeared to have the world at her feet.

But like many young women, Lauren James had hang-ups about her body. So she decided to have liposuction to remove fat from her lower buttocks, thighs and knees.

Three days after the $8000 day procedure in Melbourne, she was dead.

Leaders in Australia’s medical profession have become increasingly concerned at the growing demand for cosmetic procedures from young people – and the “trivialisation” of surgery.

Celebrities, models and TV stars have helped make procedures like lip fillers and breast implants increasingly mainstream and socially acceptable in the past couple of decades.

And while deaths from cosmetic surgery are very rare, the risks of complications and the permanency of procedures are very real.

That’s prompted a new crackdown on the $1 billion a year industry, with particular emphasis on protecting teenagers from making impulsive decisions.

Under the Medical Board of Australia’s new guidelines – which come into force in October – young people aged under 18 will be forced to undergo a psychological assessment and a three-month cooling off period before being allowed to have breast implants, liposuction or a nose job.

Dr Joanna Flynn, chair of the Medical Board of Australia, told The Weekly the board was concerned about maturity, peer pressure and body image issues in young people seeking cosmetic surgery.

Simon Dal Zotto, who was Lauren James’ partner, had been among those who had been calling for tighter controls on the cosmetic surgery industry in Australia. He has described Lauren as “stunning” and “one of the kindest, most loveable people”.

In a similar tragedy to Lauren’s death from post-operative complications in 2007, 28-year-old ex-dancer Lauren Edgar died the following year after developing a bacterial infection and gangrene from her liposuction in Adelaide.

More recently, there have been a string of reported complications, botched procedures and misuse of local anaesthetic at cosmetic surgery clinics in recent years.

In January last year, 21-year-old Amy Rickhuss almost died when her heart stopped from anaesthetic complications during breast augmentation surgery in Sydney.

Dr Gazi Hussain, vice-president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, told The Weekly cosmetic surgery was “almost a commodity now” and welcomed the new guidelines, which also affect adult patients.

Read the full story in the August issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, on sale now.

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